Time Magazine headline: "Lieberman Lost the Old-Fashioned Way
He was out of touch with voters. And he's not alone. His defeat foreshadows an upheaval to come in November"
I don't know who Joshua Micah Marshall is (and I'm sure I should -- but I have other things I have to do!), but I sure like the way he writes and what he has to say. See Time mag article
more ....
In the Time piece, Marshall debunks the issue of the evil, nutty, liberal blogs viciously and irrationally taking down a good man.
...the blogs were the vehicle that helped that latent but pervasive disgruntlement among Connecticut Democrats become aware of itself. But Joe Lieberman succumbed to a political ailment (common to long-serving senators) that would have been as recognizable to Daniel Webster and Henry Clay as it was to so many 21st century bloggers: He got his head lost in the clouds of national politics and lost touch with his constituents.
Refreshing view that the blogs can give voice to a public out there which isn't even necessarily associated with blogs and bloggers.
He clarifies that the result wasn't even about Iraq per se. It was Lieberman's stubborn defense of everything about the war and its conduct; his coziness with W. He was out of touch with reality and more to the point, out of touch with his constituents.
With Lieberman, there's something different. It's not just that he wouldn't wash his hands of the Iraq War. Lots of Democrats won't. It's more than that. He's seemed almost militantly indifferent to the disaster Iraq has become. And his passion about the war seemed reserved exclusively for those who questioned it rather than those who had so clearly botched the enterprise.
Glad to see an institution like Time publishing these kinds of viewpoints.
As the piece points out, voters prefer Dems over Repubs by 15%.
Marshall thinks this is a harbinger of a big shake-up -- a sign of the gulf between the Beltway bubble and the public. I certainly hope so. The status quo must go. It's just too scary!
I would never put it past the Democrats to blow an opportunity, but there is just too much at stake here. Ever-widening war, a less stable Middle East, more not less terrorism, the de facto repeal of the Constitution, national health care, social security, gay-baiting, export of good jobs, ever-fewer benefits, environmental disaster, a theocracy in Washington.
If you live in an area where there is a race for House or Senate which could help tip the balance towards Democratic control in Congress, think about not only giving money, but volunteering. Manning phone banks is a simple yet useful thing almost anyone can do.